


Be Mine, Meowentine

by Kittens



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, Neighbors, Secret Crush, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 11:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17786411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittens/pseuds/Kittens
Summary: Hux plans on spending Valentine's Day the same way he always does. Alone. But someone leaving a card for him might change all that.





	Be Mine, Meowentine

**Author's Note:**

> For KyluxXoXo Valentine's event!

The fourteenth of February was just another day. If it weren’t for the obnoxious pink and red hearts decorating his workplace, Hux likely wouldn’t even have thought twice about the date. As it was, some of his coworkers seemed unable to help themselves when it came to pointless holidays. 

At least at Christmas, everyone else took time off which meant Hux was able to work in peace. But Valentine’s Day was another matter. Everyone was working, and at least half of his coworkers were wearing pink and talking about their plans for the evening. It was rather boring, Hux thought. It seemed like the only differences in their plans were the restaurants they were going to.

Hux decided he’d simply stay at his desk all day and do his best to ignore everyone else. Maybe everyone would take off early so Hux could work in peace and quiet. Or maybe his coworkers would realize he wasn’t in the mood for their crap.

If only it could be that easy.

Around lunchtime, a shadow fell over his desk and he looked up to see Phasma standing over him. Usually, he was one of his favorites, but he frowned at her pink shirt and red tie with tiny white hearts all over it. 

“I know you hate holidays,” she said, “but you can at least come to the break room. Mitaka made cupcakes.”

“I don’t hate holidays,” Hux replied, turning his attention back to his work. “I just think most of them are pointless and I don’t want to bother with them.”

“Right. Doesn’t sound like you hate it at all. Go get a cupcake.”

“I don’t want one.”

Phasma muttered something under her breath, but Hux ignored it. He just wanted to work in peace. Before he could get himself focused again, Phasma came back, holding a cupcake with bright pink frosting and in a pink cupcake liner. She put it down on his desk. At least she’d brought a napkin, even if it had little red hearts all over it.

She walked away without saying a word and Hux thought he might just toss the stupid thing in the trash. But he couldn’t help taking a quick taste of the frosting. Strawberry. And it tasted like it was made with real strawberries and not just flavored. One cupcake probably wouldn’t hurt.

He finally finished the cupcake two hours later and he had to admit Mitaka did make excellent cupcakes. If only he could make them in less obnoxious colors on less obnoxious days. He threw the napkin and liner away in the break room trash can since he didn’t want to attract any pests to his desk. On his way back, he noticed his manager was heading towards him.

Even Snoke, as ancient as he was, seemed to be celebrating the holiday. Instead of his usual gold tie, he was wearing a pink one. Hux wasn’t sure if it was an improvement or not, and he couldn’t help himself from wondering if Snoke had a date. Hux probably was the only one in the office who was spending the holiday alone.

Of course, he wanted it that way. If he really wanted to find a date, he surely could have. But he liked not having to be out with everyone else doing the same stupid stuff. He’d have a much more pleasant evening on his own. And he hated dating anyway.

“Hux,” Snoke said as he approached, “I was thinking that you might like to have the rest of the day off. You work so hard, after all. I think a small reward is in order.”

He opened his mouth to argue - he’d much rather be at work and have something to do with his time and surely there’s someone else in the office who had someone waiting for them at home. But then he realized that he could beat all the traffic home and have more time to simply do nothing. And Snoke also must realize that he’s the least likely to have any plans for the evening. It must have been intentional. 

It really wouldn’t be worth it to argue, so Hux gathered his things and made his way out, ignoring the jealous looks from his coworkers. If they had a problem with it, they could take it up with Snoke. Which was probably what the old man wanted. Probably trying to make everyone as miserable as he was. Everyone with plans would have to stay all day and Hux, the one person with no one in his life, would have more time to remember just how alone he was.

At least it was quick getting back to his apartment. He checked the time and it was barely three. He never made it home before six, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. His usual routine of come in late, feed the cat, warm up a frozen dinner and fall asleep wouldn’t work. It was far too early for that. 

Before heading up to his apartment, he went to his mailbox. When he got there, he saw a tall, dark-haired man standing in front of his box. Or at least the same area. As broad as the man was, he blocked off a large section of the mailboxes. When the man turned around, Hux recognized him as one of the people living on his floor. Kyle something or other.

“You’re home early,” Kyle said. “Guess you have plans tonight, huh?”

“Yes,” Hux agreed with him, although he was really wondering just how the man knew he got off work early. He’d seen him around before and said hi to him a few times, but they didn’t really talk to each other.

“That’s cool,” he said, red creeping into his face.

“Mail not here yet?” he asked, noticing that Kyle didn’t have anything in his hands.

“Oh. I, uh, didn’t check. Going for a run, so it’d be pointless. Anyway, see you later.”

He took off quickly and left the building, not giving Hux a chance to ask why he’d been standing in front of the mailboxes. It really wasn’t that important. He put his hand in his pocket to take his keys out when he noticed something was wrong. Taped to his mailbox was a pink envelope. He frowned at it, as if that might be enough to make it disappear.

It remained taped to his mailbox until he reached out and tore it off. It was unmarked, except for his name written in very nice handwriting. He didn’t recognize the handwriting or know who it could possibly be from. It wasn’t something that came through the mail since there was no address. He tossed it towards the trash can before opening up his mailbox.

Once he had his mail, he went upstairs to his apartment. Usually, Millicent was there to greet him, but she hadn’t been expecting him and she was asleep on the couch. Hux walked over and pet her and she woke with a chirp. 

The orange cat yawned, stood up and stretched, and then started purring and rubbing against Hux’s hands. He scratched her under the chin and then she jumped up onto his shoulder. Hux wrapped one arm around her while his other went to support her back.

“At least I have someone to spend the day with,” he said as she purred loudly in his ear.

After a while, she jumped down from his shoulder and curled back up again on the couch. Hux sat next to her and turned on the TV. Maybe he could watch a movie or something. He was looking for something to watch when there was a knock on the door.

He definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, so he didn’t get up right away, but whoever it was knocked again. Deciding he’d just have to tell them to go away, he got up and opened the door. There was no one there, but a pink envelope on the floor caught his eye and he heard the sound of a door slamming shut somewhere nearby.

Not wanting to leave trash around, he picked the envelope up. As far as he could tell, it was the same one that had been taped to his mailbox. Clearly, someone really wanted him to have it. His first thought was that maybe it was something dangerous, like anthrax. But who’d go through that much trouble to kill him?

Glancing back at Millie, Hux decided he should play it safe and open it in the hallway. Just in case. He tore the envelope open and pulled out a Valentine’s card with an orange cartoon cat holding a big pink heart that said “Be Mine, Meowentine” on it.

“What the fuck?” he muttered to himself. He looked at the envelope and made sure it really had his name on it. Who would have given him a card? It had to be someone who knew where he lived, and very possibly someone who knew he had a cat, but maybe that was just coincidence.

As he was busy trying to figure out just who might have left the card, he realized there might be an important clue on the inside of it, so he opened it up. He didn’t bother reading the handwritten message but instead looked at the bottom and saw that it was signed “Kylo.”

Everything suddenly made sense. That’s why he’d been standing in front of the mailbox. Probably why he seemed a little awkward as well when Hux spoke to him. But why would his neighbor leave him a Valentine’s card? Did he really seem that lonely that someone he barely knew felt bad for him?

Hux wanted to go knock on his door and inform him that he was perfectly happy in his life and he doesn’t need some stupid card. He’d even taken a few steps down the hallway when he realized he had no idea which apartment he lived in. There were six on each floor and Hux had never bothered to talk to anyone in the other five.

Maybe he’d see him again sometime and let him know giving him cards was completely unnecessary. 

He went back into his apartment and sat back down on the couch, ready to go back to looking through a seemingly endless list of movies he didn’t want to watch. As he did that, his mind kept going back to the card and why Kylo would have left it for him. And what kind of name was Kylo anyway?

Finally, unable to stop thinking about it, he picked it up and finally read the message inside.

_Hey, I know we don’t really talk much but I just wanted to say I like you. I don’t know if you even like guys or what or if you’d be interested but I guess I’ll never know if I don’t try. So if you want to talk, you can always come knock on my door (205) or more likely we can just pretend this never happened._

__

__

_Kylo_

There was no way that he was serious about what he wrote. No one liked him. Not in any sense of the word. He didn’t have any real friends and he certainly didn’t have any hope of ever having a romantic partner. So what was the real meaning behind the card? At least he knew where to find Kylo.

Hux went down the hall and knocked on the door that was on the other end of the hall from him. The door opened and the first thing he noticed was that Kylo wasn’t wearing a shirt. He knew he was a large man, but he hadn’t expected him to be so well-built. It almost made Hux wish the card was serious.

“What’s the meaning of this?” he asked, holding the card up.

“Sorry,” Kylo said, looking away from him. “Just forget about it. I won’t do it again.”

“You’d better not! What makes you think I need a card? I don’t need -” Hux stopped mid-shout because he noticed something was wrong with Kylo. “Why are you crying?”

“I said I was sorry, okay? I know it was stupid and that you don’t like me but you don’t have to yell at me!” Kylo was nearly yelling himself while tears started to fall.

“Wait,” Hux said, realizing something wasn’t right. If Kylo gave him the card as a joke or out of pity, he’d have no reason to be upset. At least not upset enough to actually be crying. “Why’d you leave me the card?”

“Why? So you can laugh at how pathetic I sound? Fuck you.” Kylo took a step back into his apartment and was about to close the door, but Hux blocked the door with his body.

“Uh,” Hux wasn’t really sure what to say or why he’d done that. At least Kylo didn’t keep pushing the door closed. “Did you actually… mean what you wrote?”

Kylo nodded and that gave Hux a lot to think about. He knew nothing about the man except that he had an attractive body. And that he was definitely an emotional person. That really wasn’t enough to even consider a relationship with the man, but Kylo liked him and knew just as little. Hux couldn’t believe he was even thinking about it.

“I’m not used to this. People liking me. Leaving cards. I thought it was some kind of joke.”

“It wasn’t. You’re not mad, then? About the card?”

Kylo gave him such a hopeful look that Hux could only shake his head. He thought he would let him down gently, tell him that he didn’t really date. But he didn’t want to hurt him again. Not after he’d done so unintentionally.

“Look, Kylo. I don’t really know you and dating isn’t something I do.” He looked down at the card in his hand. Kylo had taken a chance on giving him the card. There was no good reason he couldn’t do the same. “But if you want, why don’t you come over in twenty minutes? I’ll order us a pizza and we can watch a movie.”

“You mean it?” There was a slight smile on his face but it quickly disappeared. “You’re not just doing this because you feel bad, are you?”

“No. It’s because I like the way you look with your shirt off.” It wasn’t a complete lie. “But put a shirt on before you come over, okay?”

Kylo nodded and Hux left. On the short walk back to his own apartment, he was struck with the knowledge that he actually had a date for Valentine’s Day. Not that it was a real date. He was just going to get to know the guy and see if he even wanted to date him. Or if Kylo would want to date him once he knew him.

He placed the card on a table next to his door and then called the nearest pizza place. Then he went to his bathroom to make sure he still looked presentable. He still wore his work clothes, which would have been perfectly acceptable if he was going on a date. But he wasn’t. He was sitting at home with a new friend that maybe was a potential boyfriend.

Hux went to his bedroom and quickly changed into something more suited for sitting on the couch and watching a movie. He still had nearly fifteen minutes before Kylo would be there so he quickly made sure everything was tidy. When he looked at the couch, he saw Millie was still curled up in her favorite spot in the middle of the couch. For a moment, he thought he’d have to move her, but he decided it might be better to have her sitting between them.

Kylo knocked on his door almost exactly twenty minutes after he last saw him. Hux let him in and was glad to see that he’d listened and put on a t-shirt. He also had a six pack of beer and Hux was glad to see that he no longer looked like he was about to cry, although he could see that his face was a little red, as were the tips of his ears that he could see sticking out through his long hair.

“Come on in,” he said. “Pizza should be here soon. I hope you don’t mind cats, because Millie is rather comfortable on the couch right now.”

“I love cats,” Kylo said. He put the beer down on the coffee table and glanced at the TV. “So what are we watching?”

“Not sure yet,” Hux said. He hadn’t figured out what he wanted to watch when he planned on spending the evening alone. He definitely didn’t know what to watch with someone else. “You can pick something if you like.”

The pizza arrived and Hux got them plates and paper towels and they settled on the couch. To his surprise, Kylo picked a romantic comedy. It wasn’t what he would have expected from the man, but as he’d already told himself, he didn’t really know the man.

“I know it’s cheesy,” Kylo said. “But I do like making fun of these movies.”

That was an idea that Hux could get behind. Although he couldn’t imagine ever watching such a movie and enjoying it, he found that he really liked watching it with Kylo, who made jokes about everything and Hux found himself joining in. 

By the time the movie was over, Millie had left and when Hux moved his hand, he accidentally brushed against Kylo’s hand. He pulled back immediately, but then he put his hand back, lightly touching him. They looked at each other and Hux decided he really had nothing to lose, so he leaned over and kissed him.

It was only a short, chaste kiss, but it was probably the most exciting kiss of Hux’s life. He’d always thought kissing was rather boring, but maybe that was just because he’d never kissed Kylo before. And he wanted to do it again.

“I need to feed Millie,” he said. “But it’s still early and we still have beer. So if you want, we could watch another one.”

Kylo agreed and Hux got up to take care of Millie and then returned to the couch. This time, without the cat in the way, Hux couldn’t think of any excuse to sit right next to Kylo. It didn’t take long for them to hold hands.

By the end of the movie, Hux didn’t really know Kylo any better than when he knocked on his door, but he also decided that he didn’t want him to go. It had been too long since he’d been touched by someone. He usually wasn’t comfortable with it, but things were different with Kylo.

Without thinking too much about it, he put his head on Kylo’s chest and he put his arms around him. He wanted to stay just like that forever. Hux suspected he’d stay forever if he asked him too. 

“Thanks,” Hux said after a while.

“For what?” Kylo asked. Hux could feel the way his deep voice rumbled through his body.

“For the card. For starting all this. I had no idea what I was missing out on. What I almost didn’t even give a chance.” He couldn’t believe how close he’d come to not having Kylo in his life, nor could he believe how horrible that idea seemed after knowing him only for a few hours.

“I’m glad you did give it a chance.”

“Me too.”

He glanced over at the card on the table, something that he almost threw away. Somehow, he had the idea that he’d be keeping that card forever.


End file.
